Than and now…
Got together this weekend with my two best friends, both of whom I’ve known since childhood. We had lots of fun and laughs catching up on old times. Susan remembers so many details from years ago that I had totally forgotten about. She has an amazing memory. Nancy doesn’t remember much, I’m somewhere in the middle. Hard to believe we are all 50!
Love you guys! Susan, next time we will visit you in Sunny Florida!
Last summer, about a week before vacation, I was cleaning out a closet and found my old diary from 1974 (age 16)! Most of the diary is from 1974-1978. I stuck it in my suit case, so that I could reflect on my life while relaxing on the beach.
It was so much fun reading it! I don’t have a very good memory, but honestly there was so much written in there that I didn’t remember at all. It was strange, like I was reading someone else’s diary. I have no idea who that kid was! Most of it is just typical teenage stuff, but I will say that being a teen in the 1970’s was very different from what it’s like today. It is an interesting snapshot of one teenagers life in the 1970’s. Some of it is pretty funny, some of it is embarrassing or boring.
When I got home from vacation, I typed the whole thing word-for-word (minus copious spelling errors). I added a few photos and other documents – some newspaper articles, 70’s memorabilia, etc. I then had books printed (at lulu.com) as Christmas gifts for the few people who might actually be interested in reading it, those who were there; my mother, father, sister and my two best friends.
I might blog some of it here. I was actually thinking about doing a retro blog of “Cindy in the 70’s”, but not sure this is something I want to put on-line…
Here is what I was doing on this day in 1974:
We won our match. I forget what the score was. I missed the top five by only 5 points. I got a 95 prone and a 67 off hand, for 162. I know I can do better, but I’m lucky I got that in a match, because I get so nervous. I think this was the best I’ve done in a match.
Jay didn’t come tonight because he went back to college. I hope he comes to some of the matches.
Tomorrow we are having action shots (photos) for the yearbook.
We got all these papers and things to fill out if we want class rings. They are letting us get them now, because next year the price is supposed to go up a lot. This year they cost about $50.
The match was a shooting match. I was the only girl to ever make the Waltham High School Rifle Team. Funny that I really don’t like guns now.
I have a second diary that covers 1988-1994. This diary is not a day-by-day diary like the first one, just sporadic update-type entries. So, there is a black hole from 1978-1988. I don’t recall the reason for this gap; I guess life in the 1980’s got too busy to write. I didn’t keep a diary after 1994, although I did some writing and of course now I have this blog.
Lake Ripple is one of Eric’s favorite places in Grafton. For years I’ve been meaning to get him out onto the frozen lake, but I never seemed to get around to it. Part of the reason is because I’m paranoid about water. Not for myself, but for Eric. Putting a kid in a wheelchair on water is like attaching an anchor around his waist. If anything bad happens it would be just about impossible to save him. We took him out on a schooner last summer. He loved it, but I was just glad to get him back on land!
Yesterday was the annual Grafton Community Ice skating Party on the lake. Since it has been extremely cold recently, I thought this would be a good and safe time to take Eric out on the ice. The biggest challenge was the rather big, steep hill we had to climb down to get onto the lake. Aaron and I made it down OK, but halfway down I was thinking, this is really dumb, how will I ever get him back to the van! But there was no turning back at that point… Luckily, there where plenty of people around and when I was ready to leave, I asked three strong guys who were hanging around the bonfire if they would help me out and they did. I had Eric in his jogger, which made it easier. Each one took a wheel and dragged him up the hill. It was worth it though as Eric was so excited to go “on” Lake Ripple and he will be talking about this for days.
Here is a photo of the twins. Aaron calls that hat his “Fargo” hat! Of course, Aaron has his video camera with him in order to get some “stock footage”.
Eric could not believe that he was out in the middle of the lake!
A nice bonfire provided by the Grafton Recreation Department. OK, this fire did make me nervous. Why doesn’t it burn through the ice? I went over and asked one of the guys tending the fire and he said, “I have no idea!” That was not very reassuring. However, I knew that they did this bonfire thing every year, so I could only assume that we were safe… I tried googling it when we got home, but couldn’t find an answer. If anyone knows why it’s OK to light a fire on ice, please leave a comment.
Getting dark and cold! Aaron warming up by the fire.
Anyone who has children knows that the place of honor in the home is the refrigerator. This is where the important notes, the good report cards, and the special artwork and photos go. It’s like a personal home art gallery.
At Christmas time, the photocards get a place of honor on our fridge. Here is a snapshot of this year’s gallery.
Typically, I’ve got all the Christmas stuff packed away by now, but we have some of the Bissell Clan coming down this week for more holiday celebrating. So I’ve left the tree and decorations up a bit longer this year.
Happy New Year!
